Aquatic Ecology

Code:

MA227

Acronym:

EA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Environmental Sciences and Ecology

Instance: 2020/2021 - 4T

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Aquatic Production
Course/CS Responsible:	Aquatic Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LCMA	26	Official Study Plan	2	-	5	49	135

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Transmission of knowledge of the fundamentals of aquatic ecology, methods of fieldwork and evaluation of data.

Learning outcomes and competences

To get a general vision about the basic elements of Aquatic Ecology, the capacity of identifying diferent ecosystems and biotopes, to understand the principal trophic relationsships of some ecosystems, and to know some of the most representative species of the littoral.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Theoretical lessons:
Oceans, classification of the marine environment and currents: definitions, structure and zonation of the physical space; distribution, boundaries, areas, volumes and depths, Coriolis, Ekman spiral, gyres and eddies, surface and bottom currents, cold wall, current system at 0º in the Atlantic.
Abiotic factors: physical-chemical parameters, macro- and micronutrients, dissolved and particular organic matter, hydrostatic pressure, movement of ascension, illumination.
Biotic factors: definitions, detritus, phyto- and zooplankton, seston, neuston, pleuston, and nekton, seasonal variations between nutrients, phyto- and zooplankton in high, low and middle latitudes, and in the North Pacific Ocean, grazing, vertical migration, life cycles, general information about nekton, mollusks, fish, reptiles and marine mammals.
Working platforms, instruments and methods: necessities and general problems of oceanographic instruments; research vessels, equipment; instruments and methods for physical-chemical and biological sampling.
Bacteria and aspects of marine microbiology: forms and functions, horizontal and vertical distribution; processes and production, examples of the Baltic and the Black Sea.
Primary Production: general scheme, unities and distribution of primary production in the oceans; photosynthetic and respiratory quotients; adaptation to light; compensation and critical depth; production and biomass development of phytoplankton in a water column, development of a bloom.
Upwelling: causes, definitions, localizations, examples of the neritic and oceanic provinces; food chains in upwelling areas; biological production.
Benthos: definitions, size, feeding types, locomotion; larvae and development; biomass distribution; benthic societies: sand, mud and rock, with examples; phyto- and zoo benthos of hard and soft sediments; benthic interactions; benthos in great depths; food chains and trophic web scheme; benthos research methods: study of the sediments, organic content; presentation of statistical parameters: abundancy, frequency, constancy, biomass, affinity, similarity, biodiversity, evenness and coefficient of dispersion.
Littoral: definitions; coastal geomorphology; zonation; tides and waves; other abiotic factors; biotic factors like competition for space and food; colonization of different substrates, characteristic species of the littoral zones; erosion; human influence and pollution (definitions, origins and problems): introduction of domestic and industrial waste water; artificial illumination; civil construction; professional and artisanal fisheries; recreational activities; protection and conservation of vulnerable areas; «littoral parks».
Plastic waste in the oceans: production of plastics, pollution of the oceans and the coast by plastics, case of Praia da Aguda, global marine debris, degradation times, microplastics, economic impact.
Climate change: Greenhouse gases, consequences of global warming, "the sea ..... too hot, too high and too acid", situation in Portugal.
Secondary productivity: definitions, unities, «Edge Index», grazing, filtration quotient; calculation of production, biomass-turnover-approach, Allen method; ecological efficiency and trophic levels; food chains, benthos production, structure of a food web, quantification of trophic levels.
Estuaries: types and classifications; abiotic and biotic factors; “brackish water laws”; representative species; resident, periodical, summer guest, casual, and migratory species of fish; problems – erosion, sand digging, urban pressure, pollution and eutrophication.
Coral reefs and mangroves: definitions, other reefs, endosymbiosis, feeding of corals, calcareous constructions, construction of reefs, biodiversity, reef types, comparison between the Indopacific Ocean and the Atlantic, problems e solutions; mangroves, dominant species, biodiversity, problems and solutions.
Interior waters: definitions, structure and zonation of continental or inland waters, subterranean and cave waters; surface current and still waters.

Practical lessons:
Zonation: intertidal zonation of Aguda´s beach, identification and statistical evaluation of representative species of the marine fauna and flora, determination of colonization differences of a rocky and sandy beach, physical-chemical factors in a tide pool.
Dunes: formation, colonization, zonation and representative species, conservation and protection.

Mandatory literature

Gray John S.; ecology of marine sediments. ISBN: 0-521-28027-3
Russell-Hunter; Aquatic Productivity, Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc. New York, 1989
Raffaeli & Hawkins; Intertidal ecology, Chapman & Hall, London, 1996
Barnes R. S. K. ed.; Fundamentals of aquatic ecosystems. ISBN: 0-682-00014-7
Cushing D. H. ed.; ecology of the seas. ISBN: 0-632-00341-3
Kinne Otto ed.; Marine ecology
Kaiser et al; Marine Ecology, Oxford University Press, 2005
Castro Peter; Marine biology. ISBN: 978-0-07-302819-4
Tardent; Marine Biology, Thieme, Stuttgart, Germany,, 1994
Levington; Marine Biology, Oxford University Press, 2001

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical lessons with video projections. Practical lessons in the intertidal zone of Aguda´s beach, in the Dune Park, and in the Aquarium of the Littoral Station of Aguda.

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Frequência das aulas	42,00
Estudo autónomo	86,00
Trabalho de campo	7,00
Total:	135,00

Eligibility for exams

Frequency of 75 % of practical lessons

Calculation formula of final grade

100 % written examination

Classification improvement

written examination